Venetian blinds



April 21, 1964 c. I. BRANDIN 3,129,750

VENETIAN BLINDS Filed Nov. 16, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.2.

W 7 FIG]? 74 '10 4 FIG.3. /2

INVENTOR Charles I. Brand in I BY Q ORNEY April 21, 1964 .c. 1-. BRANDIN 3,129,750

VENETIAN BLINDS Filed Nov. 16, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 2e 2 FlG.7. Z? 6' j 27 wfifl 7 7 INVEQNTOR Charles LBrand ir ,2) A1TORNEY United States Patent Oiiice 3,129,750 Patented Apr. 21., 1964 3,129,750 VENETIAN BLINDS Charles I. Brandin, Bellerose, N.Y., assignor to Charles I. Brandin, Inn, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 16, 1962, Ser. No. 238,084 4 Claims. (Cl. 16i)168) This invention relates to Venetian blinds, and more particularly to means for raising, lowering and tilting a blind and has special reference to a means of this character by which operating cords or wires for attaining the raising, lowering and tilting movements will be concealed Within the frame of the blind and be thus rendered inaccessible to the room occupant.

In many institutions, such as certain types of hospitals, penal institutions and the like, it has been found that whenever Venetian blinds are used the dangling accessible cords are likely to be availed of by the inmates for nefari ous, damaging or dangerous purposes. However, the advantages of Venetian blinds are many and hence it is desirable that some means shall be provided by which these blinds can be safely used and at the same time made operable by means not possible of easy removable and improper use.

It is therefore one of the objects of the present invention to provide a Venetian blind construction mounted in a frame which can be easily and removably fitted in a window opening and which will be provided with operating means by which it can be raised, lowered and tilted with the operating cords or cables for effecting the raising and lowering movements being completely concealed within the frame of the blind and thus rendered inaccessible to a room occupant.

It is an object of the invention to provide a blindoperating means in which simple sliding movements of an operating handle will cause raising or lowering movements of the blind, and with the cord or cable employed for effecting such movements being enclosed and conccaled.

More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of a blind-carrying frame adapted to be pivotally or otherwise mounted in a window opening, which frame is provided with a continuous peripheral channel or groove, and with a continuous loop of cord or wire cable or other strand-like element slidable in the groove, and to which cable one end of each of the blind lift wires or cords is attached so that movement of the cord or cable in the channel in one direction will exert a pull on the lift cords to thereby raise the blind.

The invention also contemplates the provision of an operating handle slidably mounted in respect to the frame and having means for engaging the cable or cord so that movements of the handle will be transmitted to the cable or cord and the same moved accordingly.

The invention also contemplates the provision of blindtilting means having all of its operating elements except a manipulating knob, enclosed within the frame of the blind.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a Venetian blind constructed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the continuous control cord or cable and the lift cords attached thereto;

FIG. 3 shows a form of tilting mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 44 of FIG. 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 shows a detail view of one of the elements for the guiding of the control cord.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of the blind with the tapes therefor shown fragmentarily;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 7--7 of FIG. 6, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view, taken horizontally through one of the vertical rails of the frame and showing the clamp for engagement with the control cord; and

FIG. 9 is a sectional View through the gripping means for the cord.

The improved Venetian blind construction includes a frame, generally indicated at 1, and which in the form shown, is substantially rectangular and includes vertical side rails 2 and 3 connected at the lower end by the bottom rail 4 and at the top by the upper rail 5. The frame 1 is preferably composed of metal, such as aluminum, and it is adapted to be mounted in a window opening in any one of a number of different ways. For example it may be pivotally mounted, if desired, so that it may be swung out of or into the window opening.

The frame is provided with a peripheral channel 6 which extends continuously around it. That is to say, the channel extends continuously through the side rails and through the top and bottom rails to thereby provide a continuous passage or groove for a cord-like, loopshaped operating member 7. Said operating member may be a flexible element such as a cord, a solid or stranded wire cable, or a band, and it is herein referred to as the control cord which term is intended to comprehend any of the above elements or any other suitable looped flexible member usable for the purpose to be described.

The control cord is thus a continuous loop as clearly seen in FIG. 2, and by a pull imposed on its vertical stretch 8, it is caused to raise the blind.

The blind may generally be of conventional construction, in that it is provided with the usual metal or Wooden slats 9, supported by a plurality of ladder tapes 10, two of such tapes being shown but it will be understood that an additional number may be used according to the width of the blind. The tapes are attached to the upper bar 11 of the blind and to the lower bar 12 in the known manner.

The slats are tilted by pivotal movement of the upper bar 11 around its horizontal axis by the means shown in FIG. 3 or by other suitable mechanism.

The lifting cords for raising and lowering the blind are shown at 13 and 14 and at the top the same are attached to the loop-shaped control cord 7 as indicated at Ma. These lifting cords extend downwardly through openings 30 in the top rail and are attached at their lower ends to the bottom bar 10 so that when an upward pull is imposed on the cords 13 and 14 by the clockwise rotative move- 3 ment of the looped control cord 7 through the channel 6, the blind will be raised.

The means for manually moving the control cord 7 along in the channel 6 is shown at FIG. 7 and the same as there shown consists of a clamp which includes a pair of spring arms 16 and 17 normally urged toward one another and having arcuate jaws 18 for gripping the control cord 7 between them. The clamp also includes a neck portion 19 which is vertically slidable in a lengthy slot 26 provided in the front of the frame side rail 2. Provided on the clamp 15 and disposed on the outside of the rail 2 is a loop 21 constituting a handle or finger piece for manual engagement. It will be apparent that when the clamp is normally and manually slid downwardly in the slot 2 6, it will exert a downward pull on the stretch 8 of the control cord 7, thus pulling the lift cords 13 and 14 upwardly and raising the blind. To assist in holding the blind in any partially raised position, serrations 22 (FIG. 7) may be provided along the edges of the slot and which serrations engage with roughened or serrated surfaces on the clamp at the base of the arms 16 and 17. By exerting an inward pressure on the springy loop or finger piece 21, the arms 16 and 17 of the clamp 15 will be caused to spread apart or separate, as somewhat exaggeratedly shown in dotted lines in FIG. 8, so that the clamp will thus be disengaged from the control cord 7 and it may be moved up or down in the slot 20 independently of the cord 7. The cord 7 may be roughened or provided with irregularities to insure a gripping engagement by the clamp. To further assist in maintaining the cord 7 at any desired position of adjustment and hence maintaining the blind at any required raised position, a gripping device may be employed in the channel 6 and preferably at a point at about the center of the lower rail 4. Such device, an example of which is shown in FIG. 9, may consist of two dished spring plates 23 and 23a, which are maintained in the channel and have their convex surfaces directed toward one another. Each of said surfaces is provided with a concavity 25 for click engagement with any one of a number of enlargements 26 provided along the length of the control cord. These enlargements 26 are shown in the drawings on only the bottom stretch of the cord, but. it will be understood that the same may be provided Wherever required along the length of the cord.

In order to facilitate the relatively free sliding movement of the control cord '7 through the channel 6, there is provided in the channel a plurality of smooth-surfaced rounded protuberances 27 over which the cord 7 and parts of the cords 13 and 14 are slidable with a minimum of friction. Such protuberances may be provided at the corners of the frame 1 and at such other points within the channel 6 along the length and width of the frame as may be required to prevent sag in the cord while permitting its free sliding movement over them and through the channel 6.

From the foregoing, the manner in which the blind is raised or lowered will be readily understood. A downward pull on the handle or finger piece 21 will cause the clamp 15 to move downwardly in the slot 20, and being then engaged with the control cord 7, it will move the cord 7 and the attached cords 13 and 14 clockwisely through the channel 6, thus moving the stretch 8 of the cord downwardly and exerting an upward pull on the lifting cords 13 and 14 to thereby raise the blind to the required extent. In raising the blind, the clamp can be first moved downwardly for a short distance while it is gripping the cord 7; then disengaged to free its grip on the cord, and while disengaged from the cord it can be raised in the slot to then take a fresh grip on the cord and brought down. Thus, the cord 7 can be moved down through the channel 6 by a succession of up-and-down movements of the clamp. This will serve to keep the clamp within the comfortable reach of the operator, although when it is desired to keep the handle 21 out of the reach of children, the clamp can be elevated well up in the slot 20.

When the clamp is detached from the cord 7, the blind will be prevented from descending by gravity by reason of the engagement of the spring gripper of FIG. 9, with any one of the enlargements 26 on the cord, and the blind will thus be maintained at any desired partially or wholly raised position.

The tilting of the blind may be obtained in a number of ways, one of which is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. Therein, the top bar 11 of the blind is shown as being pivoted in the side rails of the frame 1 on pivot pins 28, one of which is extended and toothed to constitute a gear 29, for engagement with a vertically-guided rack 30a. A shaft 31 is movable vertically in a slot 32 formed in the front part of the side rail 3, and said shaft is provided with an offset end 33 (FIG. 4) entering an opening in the rack. By movement of the shaft 31 up or down in the slot 32 by manual engagement with the knob 34 provided on the shaft 31, the rack 30a will be moved up or down, and through its engagement with the gear 29 it will rotatively move the top bar 11 of the blind and thus tilt the blind to any required extent and in either direction of tilt. By slightly rotating the knob 34, a binding effect is attained which will maintain the blind in any desired angle of tilt. This tilting arrangement may be varied in numerous ways to secure the desired tilting action, or other tilting means may be provided.

By means of the construction described, an arrangement is provided in which all of the operating cords or cables are concealed and confined so that none of them are accessible from the exterior of the frame. For the purpose of repair or adjustment, the frame 1 and its contained blind is readily removable from the window opening and the cords thus made accessible.

Having thus described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

1. A Venetian blind construction comprising, a frame for mounting in a window, said frame containing a Venetian blind, cords in said blind for raising the same, a channel provided in the frame around its perimeter, a continuous uninterrupted wire loop located in the channel and movable lengthwisely in the same, the cords being attached to said wire so that movement of the wire in one direction will raise the cords and consequently raise the blind, a handle projecting out of the frame, said handle having means disposed within the channel for either gripping the wire or releasing the same so that said handle, when engaging the wire, and moved along within the channel will move the wire and cause it to actuate the blind-lifting cords.

2. A Venetian blind construction as provided for in claim 1, wherein the means for gripping the wire consists of a pair of springy arms located in the channel, said arms being normally separated to permit passage of the flexible member between them and the handle including a loop portion connected to the arms and compressible to springably move the arms toward one another to cause them to grip the flexible member between them.

3. A Venetian blind construction comprising, a frame provided with a channel extending completely around it, a flexible, cord-like element in the form of a continuous loop located in said channel and movable longitudinally through the same, a plurality of blind-raising cords connected at one end to said cord-like element and at opposite ends to a blind and moved through the channel to raise a blind located in the frame, the frame having a vertical slot, a handle movable in the slot, means on the handle located within the frame for releasably gripping the flexible member to move the same along through the channel by movements of the handle in the slot, the handle including manually operable means by which its grip on the flexible member can be freed.

4. A Venetian blind construction comprising, a frame for mounting in a window, said frame having a continuons encircling channel, a continuous, uninterrupted wire loop encircling the frame and located in the channel and movable along in the same, a blind mounted in the frame, said blind including a plurality of lifting cords attached at one end to the wire loop so that movement of the loop in the channel in one direction will exert an upward pull on the lifting cords to raise the blind, means engaging the loop and projecting out of the frame for manual engagement to slidably move the loop along in the channel, means for engaging the loop to prevent its sliding movement in the channel consisting of a pair of spring plates between which the loop is slidably moved, enlargements on the loop and the plates having recesses for grippingly engaging with any one of the enlargements.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A VENETIAN BLIND CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING, A FRAME FOR MOUNTING IN A WINDOW, SAID FRAME CONTAINING A VENETIAN BLIND, CORDS IN SAID BLIND FOR RAISING THE SAME, A CHANNEL PROVIDED IN THE FRAME AROUND ITS PERIMETER, A CONTINUOUS UNINTERRUPTED WIRE LOOP LOCATED IN THE CHANNEL AND MOVABLE LENGTHWISELY IN THE SAME, THE CORDS BEING ATTACHED TO SAID WIRE SO THAT MOVEMENT OF THE WIRE IN ONE DIRECTION WILL RAISE THE CORDS AND CONSEQUENTLY RAISE THE BLIND, A HANDLE PROJECTING OUT OF THE FRAME, SAID HANDLE HAVING MEANS DISPOSED WITHIN THE CHANNEL FOR EITHER GRIPPING THE WIRE OR RELEASING THE SAME SO THAT SAID HANDLE, WHEN ENGAGING THE WIRE, AND MOVED ALONG WITHIN THE CHANNEL WILL MOVE THE WIRE AND CAUSE IT TO ACTUATE THE BLIND-LIFTING CORDS. 